Orbital Drop Time!
by Cpl.Leon
Summary: For almost thirty years humanity has struggled in our fight for survival, fighting for our right to exist in the galaxy. With the Covenant finally reaching our doorstep and laying siege to the city of New Mombasa, team Alpha-nine is assembled with new members. A troubled Rookie is dragged away from a war he has known all his life into a place and time where humans are only memories
1. Chapter 1

I know, I know... I haven't finished The Hollow Strawberry And The Black Wagtail yet but I got kind of burned out on that story for the moment. I'll continue it once I get this annoying voice that keeps telling me "Write the story... you know the one you tinkered with of Rookie in the land of Ooo, I know you want to." out of my head. So for the sake of my sanity let's get started, before we begin there are some differences regarding Rookie's age. Also some of his past is made up, mainly due to the fact that he's a classic "Silent Protagonist" with no name, face or real past besides what is in the game and books. His date of birth has also been pushed up by about five years to make interaction with Adventure Time characters less awkward.

 **Chapter 1: Out place, out of time**

 **Year 2542: Alluvion**

The first thing he heard were the screams, men, women and children all screaming in horror, fear and agony... a chorus of pain and suffering. The second thing he did was open his eyes; he knew what he was going to see and feel all over again... Yet he still opened his eyes to see the all too familiar sight of sheer pandemonium, people running in all directions clutching what was most valuable to them. The streets flooded with people, flooding the sidewalks and squeezing between the unmoving vehicles stuck on the road.

Everyone towered over him; he wasn't able to see the facial features of any one person before they disappeared into the crowd. He had forgotten how it felt to be so small, so weak that he couldn't even help himself much less anyone else. The memories, relived over and over again as his dreams... his torture... his reason for fighting.

Their shadows combined with their height made their faces impossible to see. Even so he could make out people that had children or loved ones in their arms, dragging them to what they thought was safety. Some took whatever they could carry, clothing, food, water... even credits for some reason. Not many of what they frantically grabbed would be useful, most of them would not live long enough to make use of whatever was actually useful anyhow.

The crash of shattering glass brought his attention toward what was left of a store, a few thieves or greedy citizens had taken the opportunity to loot a store amidst the panic and confusion. Scum and criminals that could still attempt to get away with crime while their fellow man suffered around them. Their ability to keep calm enough to plunder under the circumstances however was impressive nonetheless.

A steadily growing blue glow brought some of the crowd's attention skyward, what looked like a violent lightning storm brewing above. Everyone knew though, all that gathered on the street frantically tried to escape. Even when they knew the chances of survival were slim and escape was near impossible they still ran.

A searing white hot beam of light broke the clouds, as wide as a city block and steadily growing larger by the second. Everything caught in the beam was disintegrated instantly those people… those poor souls that were caught in the beam were quickly and painfully vaporize. There was little left of the victims save for a charred and blackened skeletons coated in a layer of quickly cooling glass, if anything was left at all that is.

He felt a sharp tug on his arm, a woman with long black hair held onto his upper arm. She was turned away from him so her face was hidden from view. He couldn't hear her however; the screams of panic from the crowd had drowned out her voice. This was the last he saw of his mother before he whipped his head around to see the beam of white hot plasma was rapidly approaching them.

"Mom!" The boy cried, desperately grasping his mother's sleeve.

He barely recognized the shrill, high pitched voice as his own when he heard it. It was so long ago, he was at a tender age... seven if he remembered correctly. The details escaped him, the events that followed however remained clear as day in his mind.

He felt the heat against his skin despite the beam not actually touching him physically, the heat still stung. That heat was the last sensation he felt before a sense of weightlessness overtake him. His mother, her arm outstretched-had thrown him. A sharp crack followed by a stab of pain spread along his back, the pane of glass he had been thrown through bursting into a million razor sharp shards. The world went black an instant later.

"Hey, we have one alive over here!" A voice called.

When he awoke on a floor covered in shards of broken glass and blood, his body littered in cuts and scratches no doubt received when was thrown to the ground. A red mist seemed to cloud the vision of his right eye. Raising his hand to his brow, his fingertips brushed against his head and felt a warm wetness. He let out a winch of pain as his fingers traced the edges of a large gash that ran down the right side of his head and running his face and ending at his cheek. The blood from the gash stung his right eye, forcing it closed.

It sickened him, not that his fellow human had died or even the fact that his mother chosen to save him instead of herself. What sickened him was himself, how weak and helpless he was to need saving. How he could do thing but watch as people died around him whilst he survived the carnage that the Covenant brought.

His monologue was cut short by a whole new stab of pain stemming from a separate wound that ran from the bridge of his nose and stretching horizontally under his left eye. Fresh blood oozed from both wounds, it was common knowledge that head injuries bled quite a bit more than an injury on any other part of the human body. That would mean that it hadn't been too long since he was out since he hadn't bled to death yet.

"Damn… The kid's lucky to be alive so being so close to the glassing. Somebody call a Medivac, we have a survivor here!" Another voice yelled.

Slowly, the boy felt his body being lifted off the ground. Sunlight stung his vision and temporarily blinded the boy and forced him to close his eyes. As his vision adjusted to the light, he was met with a sight he would never forget… a sight that would shape his future. An opaque blue visor attached to a charcoal black helmet hid his rescuer's head and face from view, the person had held carried him over to an awaiting medical Pelican. The roar of the aircraft's engine blocked anything the armoured figures might have said as he was placed on a stretcher and strapped down.

Craning his neck around and peering between the medical personnel that fussed about him, his eyes fell on the armoured figures that turned away from the Pelican. Their shoulder pauldrons had a single insignia painted on them, a single skull inside a sort of elongated pentagon with to prongs that extended over the top of it. The entire insignia was surrounded in stylized flames with a four letters painted under the insignia… O.D.S.T.

 **The present, Year 2552, Aboard UNSC: Say My Name**

The scene on board the , _UNSC Say My Name_ , was a gloomy one, the darkened room serving as the briefing room, armoury and staging point for Orbital Drop Shock Trooper team Alpha-nine. Of the five-man team only four of its members present. Gathered around the hologram projection table were three of those soldiers, the last and newest member of the squad was resting peacefully in his HEV pod with his arms crossed over his Titanium chest plate in the far corner of the room. Their commanding officer, Gunnery Sergeant Edward Buck, was missing from the all-important briefing he was supposed to be holding.

"The Navy put up a hell of a good fight." Private First Class Michael Crespo or as he preferred to be called, Mickey, commented.

Michael Crespo was an unusual ODST to say the least, son to an insurrectionist couple in Crisium City, Naniwa, Luna. His parents had blown themselves up while trying to wire a bomb to a government building and, obviously, failed miserably. As such he had never really known his parents all that well before he was put into foster care and joined the military as a per mandatory service in order to be released from foster care.

The man had the chance to build his own life and leave the military, yet he stayed on as to him… well it was the closest thing to a family he had ever known at that point. He was a pilot and then a crew chief on a Pelican for a time before undergoing EVA training. With three HEV drops under his belt, Mickey was an obvious choice for a position in Alpha-nine. Mickey was thankfully the exactly the opposite of his parents as far as handling explosives went, thus he served as their demolition and explosive ordnance expert.

"Of course they did, its Earth!" The gravelly voice of Corporal Taylor "Dutch" Miles grunted, crossing his arms over his yellow chest plate.

Corporal Taylor Miles was born in 2519, Losantiville, Seven Hills, Mars. Being a former road-train driver had already prepared the man for the mental and physical strain of a heavy weapons specialist when serving with the ODSTs. Surprisingly, his unique view of the world was formed when he was drafted into attending university and studying religion and philosophy.

The grizzled veteran was a soldier in the UNSC Marine Corps before eventually joining the ODSTs. Close friends of their other squad mate, Lance Corporal Kojo Agu, or as other call him "Romeo". Due to his self-proclaimed luck with women. In his case being involved with a woman was what actually got him into the ODSTs to begin with.

Corporal Kojo was rude, disrespectful to both rank and gender and an all around asshole. The only reason he was in Alpha nine was because of his unbelievable hundred percent kill-rate with a sniper rifle. In short, while having a personality as smooth as sandpaper and a near constant devil-may-care attitude he was the best marksman they had.

"Better late than never, am I right?" Romeo said, shifting his helmet over his lap as he leaned on the holo-table.

The team surveyed a holographic briefing of their mission; the ominous ship hovered over the city of New Mombassa. Damage from a multitude of weapons, ranging from Archer missiles and mighty ship mounted MAC canons littered the Covenant Super Carrier's pinkish purple hull. Holes and fires dotted the mighty covenant warship. Its shields were down and wouldn't be back up anytime soon, that was about as far as the good news went.

The bad news? Their mission was to assault a Covenant carrier with the help of hundreds of other ODST teams ready to assault the Alien ship from the UNSC Navy ships hanging in low orbit. It was a near suicidal mission, disregarding the thousands of Covenant troops swarming inside the heavily damaged ship. The ship could also begin glassing the city at any point in time, they had no way of knowing if or when it's plasma bombardment system would come online. The other problem was the fact that the carrier was launching a small swarm of logistical support and dropships.

"How bout' you show some damn respect Romeo." Dutch growled, taking Romeo back slightly.

"Just saying Dutch, they missed one of the bastards." Romeo said, gesturing toward the holographic projection of the Covenant Supercarrier.

"No, they left it for us to finish off." Dutch said, shifting his helmet under his arm.

The last member, resting peacefully beside his pod was a... mystery? No that word wouldn't do the young trooper justice, he was an enigma...yes a complete enigma. He had only just been transferred into the 105th Shock Troops Division from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Force as part of a Rapid Offensive Picket until it's near complete annihilation just a month ago. His armour bore only a single mark of individuality, a white stripe that ran over the centre of his helmet. The armoured rucksack attached to the torso unit ODST BDU's usually bore the last name of the trooper painted in bolded white letters. In his case only his initials, J.D, were painted on.

The only information known to be true about J.D was that he was the youngest member of Alpha-nine, his blood type according to his MEDREF patch on his left pauldron and the fact that he shared the same birthplace as Mickey, Crisium City, Naniwa, Luna.

Not new to combat by any means, the details of his previous however operations remained shrouded in mystery. All that was known of Lance Corporal J.D "Rookie" was that he had participated in the tragedy of New Jerusalem and only weeks later the Raid on Mount Haven. While only Buck knew of the Rookie's exact action in those disastrous battles, to the rest of Alpha-nine he was competent soldier and he listened to orders... that was all that mattered.

Each ODST was well equipped, the standard ODST Battle Dress Uniform used by the 105th special forces of the UNSC. Vacuum-rated and capable of Extra Vehicular Activity, the full set would allow the user mobility in space for anywhere up to fifteen minutes. The Titanium A plating that covered nearly the entire body protected the ODST from ballistic protection and internal cooling and thermal insulation provided protection against extreme temperatures and to a limited degree covenant energy weapons.

While the standard ODST BDU is capable of any role, there are variants used by specialists to provide any number of advantages over the standard variant. Mickey's maroon striped CQB variant, used to aid ODST in close-in situations with the standard left pauldron being replaced by a much longer two piece ballistic plate that protected the user when he is in a firing stance. Romeo's blue decorated sharpshooter BDU with its removed right shoulder pauldron and enlarged left pauldron, his helmet featuring an optical enhancement device that could sync more effectively with the Oracle scope of the SRS99 sniper rifle.

Rookie and Dutch preferred the flexibility of the standard variant, small edits such as the skull and crossbones painted of Dutch's helmet and chest plate over his yellow paint scheme. The man also added extra ammunition pouches along the side of his chest plate. Rookie opted for the more a more low profile dull white stripe that ran over the centre of his helmet.

A sudden flash of yellow and blare of alarms signalled the start for the ODSTs to get into their SOEIV or as they are informally known as, HEV pods. The commanding officer of Alpha-nine, Gunnery Sergeant Edward Buck, walked into the room, wearing the standard issue ODST BDU with his characteristic combat knife strapped to the right side of his chestplate. His combed dark brown hair and rugged good looks seemed more at home in a movie than a battlefield. Beside him was a woman, blonde hair tied back and sharp and attractive features pulled into a slight grimace.

Her armour was unlike any they had seen before, a standard ODST undersuit but with a specialized and somewhat less bulky chest plate. The shoulder pauldrons were missing entirely, no doubt to reduce the user's Infrared signature. The purpose of the green orb at the lower torso was anyone's guess.

"You know the music, time to dance." Buck called.

Romeo whistled upon laying eyes on the woman. "Why hello beautiful."

"Pods, now!" Buck grumbled, pointing to the waiting SOIEV's attached to the walls via docking clamps.

The members of Alpha-nine turned and retreated without another word, heading toward the weapons racks to gear up. Dutch Slipping his helmet of his head as he left, giving Buck a slight nod as he glanced at him.

"Replacements?" The woman asked.

"Who isn't this many years into the war?" Buck mumbled, tipping his head as he remembered the original members of Alpha-nine before climbing the stairs.

"Well at least they listen." Veronica said, prompting Buck to turn and face her.

"They listen to me, and they're not gonna like what they hear." The Sergeant said, going back down the stairs.

"Orders are orders." She said, crossing her arms and giving her one-time lover a cold glare.

"C'mon Veronica, what the hell else is more important than that carrier?" Buck argued, trying to reason with the woman.

"My orders." The ONI operative scowled, pushing him back with a finger on his chest plate. "And buck, call me Captain."

"I'll pass on that dance, but you can show me where to sit." Dare said, brushing past the exasperated Gunnery Sergeant.

 **Weapon's rack, Alpha-nine mission staging area, UNSC: Say My Name**

"Hey what the hell kind of armour was she wearing?" Mickey asked, as he approached Romeo and Dutch.

"Dunno Mickey, I wasn't looking at her gear." Romeo smiled, giving his teammate a playful punch to the arm.

The man sputtered as the turned his head to find Dutch inspecting an M7/ Caseless Submachine Gun.

"Seriously?" Romeo said, staring at the peashooter the older trooper had chosen.

Dutch glared at Romeo from behind his helmet's visor. "What? It's gonna be close quarters anyways"

Romeo reached back, picking up an M90 shotgun from the rack and offered it to the heavy weapons specialist. The great thing about being an ODST was they had access to better equipment than the ordinary marine. Special Operations Command or SOCOM gear was included the M7/ Caseless SMG that compared favourably in weight and stealth properties compared to the standard MA5B Individual Combat Weapon System. A common favourite among ODST was the M6C/SOCOM issue pistol that featured a smart-linked four times scope, sound suppressor, muzzle brake and a black polymer finish. Those were just the tip of the iceberg in terms of weapon they got to choose from in the weapons racks of the _Say My Name_.

"Exactly." Romeo grinned, nudging Dutch's chest plate with the barrel of the weapon.

Dutch huffed, shoving the offered weapon away.

"Second to last, right next to mine." Buck said, pointing to a pod down the hall.

Buck stepped into view, the ONI agent walking beside him before splitting off to her pod whilst Buck moved to join his team.

"Cozy." Romeo whispered, just loud enough for Dutch and Mickey to hear.

"You gonna tell us her name Gunny?" The marksman said.

" _ **MISS**_ Naval intelligence, our new boss." Buck said, snatching the combat shotgun from Romeo and slamming it back onto the weapons rack.

"Oh brother." Romeo sighed, none too optimistic about working with an ONI officer.

"So check your mouths, find your chairs and get _**SET**_ for a combat drop!" The Gunnery Sergeant growled, grabbing an SRS99 and slamming the weapon into Romeo's chest plate.

"What fuck am I supposed to do with this _**inside**_ a damn Covenant ship?" Romeo grumbled, walking over to the newest and thus far most silent member of their team.

Romeo grabbed the barrel of his sniper rifle, taking a lazy swing at the sleeping ODST. The butt of the weapon struck the soldier square in the side of his helmet. "Wakey Wakey buttercup!"

" _Can't a guy get a decent nap before jumping into almost certain doom?"_ The young trooper thought, grumbling held his helmeted head in his hands to steady himself.

Dutch walked up, his armoured boots thumping along the metal floor of the ship as he approached the pair. The heavy weapons specialist pushed Romeo aside with his armoured forearm.

"Relax Rookie Romeo don't mean nothing by it. Besides, now's one of those times it pays to be the strong and silent type." Dutch said.

The Mars-born ODST pulled out and M7, offering the Submachine gun to the soldier. Rookie gave the man an appreciative nod as he took the gun, locking it down to the magnetic hard point under the pods right control stick and right armrest. The magnetic weapons rack under his left side already held a BR55 Service Rifle, usually his weapon of choice but in the cramped space within a Covenant carrier would only be a burden.

Rookie sat back, tucking his limbs in place and strapping himself in for the drop before hitting the button at his side. The hatch of the SOEIV pod came down with a loud mechanical hiss, slamming shut and sealing Rookie within its cramped space. Most would find being ejected from a perfectly good ship from orbit with only 5 meter tall, 2.7 meter wide and 2.3 meter long pod of Titanium-A, lead foil and a ceramic skin to protect them insane. They were correct to assume so, however ODST were not most people.

A dull grumbled filled his ears when the pod rotated and was carried off the staging room. A hatch opening below the Marathon Class heavy cruiser gave the Rookie a partial view of the ongoing battle from the narrow T-shaped window of his pod. The communication's screens built into the SOEIV's hatch came to life with a burst of static before displaying the helmeted heads of his squad's two commanding officers. Other screens also came online, altimeters, thermometers, Navigation systems, system diagnostics and various other instruments that relayed crucial information to the ODST.

"Latest intel reports covenant troops are massing beneath the carrier." Dare shouted back to the rest of Alpha-nine.

"They're pulling back? Why?" Buck asked, tilting his helmeted head in confusion.

"Well we aren't going to find out way up here." Dare finished, tapping a final button on her control panel to begin the squad's launch sequence.

A heavy clank signalled the docking clamps releasing the top of the pods and preparing all ODST's for launch. Now the only thing keeping them stuck on the belly of the UNSC Say My Name was a magnetic lock. Buck and Dare polarized their visors, hiding their faces beneath screens of blue and yellow.

 _"I always keep mine polarized anyways."_ Rookie smirked.

"Locks are off marines, I sure as hell ain't holding onto your pods!" Buck shouted.

Three high pitched beeps that all ODST's knew by heart prepared Rookie for the violent jerk that followed as all pods were ejected from the belly of Say My Name. The pod screamed as it crashed against the atmosphere, leaving a trail of blue as air resistance built up and brushed the hulls.

Rookie drummed his fingers on the control sticks in his pod as he saw a UNSC frigate broken in two amidships, flames licking its twisted metal.

"I take it back, Navy got its ass kicked!" Romeo's static-laced voice called in through the radio.

Buck rolled his eyes beneath his opaque blue visor. "Hey Romeo, remember when I told you to shut your damn mouth?"

"Yeah?" Romeo asked, curious.

"Consider that a standing order." Buck grumbled.

Rookie looked around as clouds covers his SOEIV's canopy, filling his vision with a blurry grey. A group of other pods raced alongside his own, if it wasn't for the precision of each pod's navigation and manoeuvring computer they would be at a real risk of crashing into each other mid-flight. The group of pods split off from his own team's with a blast of their manoeuvring jets, following their own set course to the carrier below.

"Captain that concludes Alpha-ten!" Buck called.

"Stand by to adjust trajectory, on my mark." Dare yelled, earning a shocked sputter from Romeo.

"What's she just say?" Romeo yelled.

"Mark!" The Captain hit a button on her panel, overriding the rest of Alpha-nine's navigation computers.

 _"Wait-what? This wasn't the plan!"_ Rookie gasped, tapping his instrument panel only to find his pod controls locked.

 _"That fucking spook!"_ Rookie mentally cursed, feeling his pod's manoeuvring thrusters firing against his will.

"We're way off course!" Mickey yelled, obviously having the same issue with his pod's controls.

"We're heading exactly where I need to go." Dare cryptically... prompting the young ODST to scowl at her image on his screen.

The pods of Alpha-nine shuddered as their course was suddenly and violently altered. The Covenant carrier now visible below them as they broke the cloud-layer and growing more distant by the second, this was most definitely not the mission they were briefed for.

"But we're gonna miss the damn carrier!" Mickey protested, he would have thrown his arms up in disbelief if his SOEIV's cramped interior didn't restrict his movement to only a foot in any direction

"Radiation!" Dutch's gravelly voice warned, prompting Rookie to shift his gaze from the images on his pod's screens to the alien ship that was Alpha-nine's original target.

A translucent blue wave travelled along the surface of the silver and black alien vessel, the nose of the warship became surrounded by a black sphere of energy.

"Did the Covenant set off a fucking nuke!?" Mickey exclaimed, pressing his helmet against the glass of his pod and staring on incredulously at the pulsing carrier.

"No! It's going to jump, it's a slipspace rupture brace yourse-" Dare yelled, only to be cut off by a burst of blue energy scrambling their communications arrays.

Rookie found his pod slowly being drawn into the gravity field of the Slipspace portal. His eyes widened in shock, panic was begging to settle in as he ran his finger over the manual overide for his thrusters only for the computer to give him a bright red error message.

"Dammit, Rookie's being drawn in! Veronica do something!" Buck screamed, watching helplessly as his newest squad mate's drop pod began veering sideways uncontrollably toward the Slipspace rupture.

"I can't! His Nav unit's locked, she'll need a reboot before he can overide the controls!" The Captain yelled.

A sudden lurched from the rupture sealed his fate as the nose of his SOEIV pod faced the expanding blue mass of energy. The Covenant ship's departure into the black void of slipspace sent a massive shockwave into the air. Rookie grimaced as his instruments sparked with arc of electricity, the entire pod shuddered as the Electromagnetic Pulse overloaded his SOEIV's systems. Finally his pod's thrusters gave out, sending the pod and the soldier inside tumbling into the portal.

"Rookie, kid no!" Dutch cried, slamming his fist against the reinforced glass canopy of his SOEIV pod as he watched J.D's pod spinning uncontrollably into the Slipspace portal's black maw.

As quickly as it had expanded, the portal began to collapse and compress into a glowing ball of small light. Like a miniature supernova the tiny mass of energy exploded outwards, releasing a wave of electromagnetic energy that struck the vulnerable SOEIV pods during their decent.

The tiny pods bucked and shuddered from the assault, each trooper was forced to pry his or her hand away from their control sticks and shield their faces from the arcs of energy that burst from every electrical system within the confined space. The pods lost their manoeuvring thrusters, knocking them off course and sending each member straying wildly off course.

"Shit! EMP, were losing power brace for hard landi-" Buck gasped through the radio, his voice filled with static before the ODST team's communications went dark.

 **Land of Ooo, Unknown Year**

Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum was not a happy camper, raising a delicate hand to brush a long mass of biomass behind her ear. Hunching over her desk within the dark confines of her underground laboratory, the princess had been seated there nearly the entire day. Her attention was drawn to a small metallic box, the box was featureless save for wires that hung limp from the side of t and the small instrument panel or some sort that she had guessed was made for external access. The device, like all human inventions before and during the Great Mushroom War, worn with age, time and exposure to the elements over a thousand years. Yet it remained in one piece and still undamaged, a testament to the engineering and workmanship of the near-extinct race.

The girl-no, the woman could easily be mistaken for a human herself if one disregarded her bright pink complexion, pink pupils and near outlandishly long hair that cascaded down her back in thick, sweet, sticky locks. Under the surface however it was completely different story, the princess was but a parody of human form. Her skin was a single sugary, thick layer of elastomer, high molecular weight polymers, resins, waxes, emulsifiers, fillers among others. The thick layer of bubble gum helped keep the viscous, semi-liquid biomass inside her body that served as organs. The sludge would take food-namely candy and convert the glucose and nutrients from the ingested material and add it to her biomass and grow.

The woman was old-far older than she appeared and older than she cared to admit, her age was only matched by one other in Ooo as far as she knew. Since her separation from the mother gum, the princess had built and created her own kingdom. At the beginning the kingdom was little more than a small village populated by her creations, slowly the village grew into a hamlet then a town. Over the centuries her kingdom had become the most influential and powerful in all of Ooo. How did the princess do this?

" _Oh my glob, how long have I been sitting here"_ The princess sighed, rubbing her tired eyes.

She owed much of her accomplishments to a race of people that in their war, made life in Ooo and the world at large possible. Bubblegum had found the technology reverse engineered whatever she could, turning what probably seemed like the most boring and mundane of invention to the humans back then were engineering marvels to the people of Ooo. Despite nearly a millennia of study and exploration, a great many human secrets seemed determined to stay secrets even a thousand years after their fall.

The patter of small, leather shoed feet outside her door face the princess's attention away from her work. The door was pushed open the small disk-shaped form of Peppermint Butler came into view. Created to be a loyal servant to Bubblegum herself, the mint dressed in a neat swallowtail coat and dress pants. Despite his rather... unsavoury interest in the dark arts, the mint candy butler was competent and faithful to her and that was all that really mattered.

The butler carried a silver tray, a bowl filled with steaming brown liquid. "Here you go Princess, a nice warm chocolate soup."

"Thank you Peppermint Butler." The Princess sighed, giving the candy person a tired smile.

"You really should be rest Princess, you're been working on that relic for nearly a week now." The small round butler said, his beady black eyes filled with concern for his home's ruler.

"I will just as soon as I finish finding out what this-" A dull rumbled interrupted Bubblegum's sentence, followed soon by muffled screams emanating from beyond the castle's candy walls.

"What is it now?" The candy woman grumbled, pushing her chair aside and rising from her seat.

The Princess walked briskly out of her lab, leaving Peppermint butler scrambling to catch up to her. The butler's tiny legs struggled to keep pace with the gum girl as she hurried up the winding stairway leading to her private bedchamber. Throwing the large doors to her bedchamber open, the princess stood upon her balcony to find the source of her citizen's distress.

"Oh…my… glob…" Bubblegum gasped, taking a step back.

The Candy Kingdom was in utter chaos, the myriad of multi-coloured sugary organisms ran in around in a blind panic. The candy people were famous for many things, their wide variety of colours and shapes, their friendly disposition and their general cheerfulness was matched only by their lack of intelligence.

The state of her people wasn't what bothered the princess; the candy woman was more focus on the giant black sphere in the sky. The thing was massive, blocking out the sunlight behind it and shrouding Ooo in an unnatural eclipse. Arcs of energy danced across the sphere's surface every now and then as the thing began to shrink. The void seemed to collapse on itself slowly, the arcs of blue energy that a moment ago been so small grew in intensity.

After a moment, the… thing had seemed to reach critical mass, sporadic bursts of energy seems to emanate from the object and travel across the surrounding clouds before it exploded. A blinding flash of blue light and a deafening crack forced Bubblegum to turn her head away and shield her eyes from the light.

When the light had died down and the ringing in her ears had ceased, she had looked back at there the sphere had once was. She had almost missed what had come next, in place of the back awe-inspiring void was a small back object in the far off distance.

"That's actually kind of anticlimactic…" The princess whispered, resisting the urge to look away and rub her sore eyes.

The object seemed to hover in the sky, just below the cloud layer before it started falling. She couldn't know if it was merely a rock falling from the sky or some monster or demon that had opened a portal to Ooo, but the scientist in her was burning with questions. This situation called for some field work.

"Peppermint, get my scanning equipment ready and call Jake!" The candy ruler yelled, leaving her small Peppermint servant to carry out her order as she rushed through the castle, eager to investigate the anomaly for herself.

 **Meanwhile, 4000 feet above the Grasslands**

J.D felt his head pound so hard that it felt as if his brain was slamming against his skull and his eyes threaten to pop out of their sockets. He was spinning if the how quickly the view from his SOEIV's canopy was to be believed, that and the fact that his arms the flailing around and slamming against his pod's interior.

 _"Shit... c'mon, c'mon..."_ Rookie grunted in frustration as he tried to lift his arms and reach the system restart button.

The task proved physically impossible; every time he tried to reach for the manual restart button the pod's wild spinning threw his arm off to the side's pod. Rookie felt panic settle in, limbs slowly losing the strength to struggle. Black crept into the edges of his vision, the immense G-forces pulled at him at every angle as the pod spun out of control.

"Well… I guess this is it, it's been short but sweet I guess..." Rookie sighed, resigning himself to his fate.

The tiny pod suddenly lurched upright, the force behind the sudden stop jerked the ODST in his seat. The air was forced from his lungs when his harness held him in place, like a flower in full bloom the top panels that formed the pod's roof exploded outwards and spread open.

This was a feature included in all pods, SOEIV's didn't get break into the atmosphere and land on Titanium-A alloy alone- they wouldn't be able to without the occupant being roasted alive inside. Instead the underside of a pre-launched drop pod was coated in ceramic plates to act as a heat shield, after the plated flaked off from the heat and velocity a small explosive would detonate and wrap a layer of lead foil around the pod. While the ceramic plates protected the pod against the worst of the heat, the lead foil further protect the ODST inside from the heat of atmospheric re-entry before ripping away.

The altimeter would trigger the explosive pack that released the back panels to form a drag-chute at a certain altitude. This feature proved to be his saving grace, the violent as sudden righting and deceleration would have smashed his head against the reinforced plexiglass canopy had the harness over his chest held him firmly in place yet. Going from nearly 10-G's to none was not too kind to the young soldier's ribs, if not for the padding under his titanium chest plate his ribs could have been bruised or completely broken.

The air was forced from Rookie's lungs and his head jerked downwards from the force. No scream of pain escaped Rookie, his air-starved lungs would only allow him to let out a short grunt of agony as his chest ached from the pressure. Working through the pain, Rookie brought up his right fist and slammed it into the control panel on the wall. Instantly, the red emergency lights within the SOEIV cut off, static filled screens that displayed numerous red error warning went dark and all was silent.

" _Work you bastard… work!"_ Rookie silently prayed-not that he believed in god or any other deity, he just didn't want to die.

The pod only remained silent for a good half second and a half, yet to Rookie it felt like an eternity before the screens flashed back to life. Rookie slumped back- well as far as the rigid backrest would allow him to anyways and took in a painful gasp of air. His lungs burned and his ribs ached, being send tumbling through the air for a couple thousand feet gave him a pounding headache and his vision was still spinning when the SOEIV fired its braking thrusters around two hundred feet from the ground.

Bracing himself for the impact almost immediately, an automatic reaction upon hearing a dull beep that punctuated the hundred foot mark. It was second nature to him- to every ODST in UNSC service to know these things by heart, every foot they fell in their drop pod had a level of metal and physical preparation involved.

When the pods get released from their clamps each ODST would think of whatever loved ones he or she were defending, some such as the Rookie himself could only avenge those that no longer stood beside him. As they broke into the atmosphere some that had a religion would pray, atheist or freethinkers would steel their will and listen to their commanding officers. Even in a drop as disastrous and disorganized as his own, a trained albeit and semi-experienced thoughts were clear as crystal and organized.

 _" Alright... Step 1: Try and contact Buck and the others. Step 2: Find Captain Dare and get her to explain the sudden change in our mission, if she still refuses to tell... shoot her in the head. Step 3: Provided step 2 worked and I don't kill Dare, would be to carry out their mission and kill as many Covenant as physically possible."_

The heavy thud of a titanium pod more than half a ton in weight smashed a sizeable crater in the open grasslands of Ooo. While the pod's velocity was immense and even with effective heat shielding the pod's surface was hot enough to dry and burn the flora immediately surrounding the SOEIV.

The shock from the impact was barely felt by the ODST inside. Moving all the haste a shock trooper like himself was supposed to, his right hand flew under his weapon clamp under the right armrest while his left stabbed the hatch controls. With a loud hiss the pod's airtight seals followed by thin wisps of pressurized air. The hatch flew open, the two hydraulic arms within the two odd prongs of the SOEIV pushed the sturdy reinforced plexiglass and titanium up.

Practically leaping out of the pod, Rookie skidded to a stop on his armoured boots and raised his M7/SOCOM to his shoulder. His helmet's gold-tinted Head's up display burst to life and sent him a basic grid on his medical status, weapon status, ammunition reserves, a compass and finally a small map that linked with his helmet's internal motion sensor.

It took a moment for the soldier to process what he had been looking at, not the rainy besieged city of New Mombasa that was crawling with alien invaders but a wide serene plain as far as the eye could see.

 _"What on Luna...This isn't New Mombasa..."_ Rookie mentally gasped, wide eyes scanning the horizon.

The soft crunch of a foot stepping on burned grass forced him into action, his motion sensor picking up movement behind him. Swinging his compact weapon around to face who or what flanked him, Rookie lowered his gun's holographic sight from his eye.

Facing him was a pink... girl, shapely and tall with bright Magenta eyes and long dark pink hair that actually looked like it had fused together. Beside her a bright yellow bipedal dog, resembling a bulldog in shape yet having eyes too large to be anatomically possible.

"Who... or what are you?" He asked, his weapon lowered in disbelief.


	2. Chapter 2

Moving onto the second chapter, we have the obligatory back and forth questions between Rookie and the Princess. Don't worry, the first season of Adventure Time starts soon after. Also, this story didn't receive as great response compared to my other one. I suppose that's because barely anyone has made an attempt at a proper AT/Halo story. Not a jab at the other authors that did try, let's say their writing isn't as good as I would come to expect. Also, two of them are in Spanish... I can't read Spanish.

* * *

Year: Unknown, Border between the grasslands and the Candy Kingdom

* * *

A pink carriage of hard candy raced toward the grasslands of Ooo. Despite the imploring of Peppermint Butler to stay within the carriage, the princess had saw fit to stick half her body outside the window in order to keep her eyes on the object as it fell. The scientist within her just wouldn't let such as interesting phenomena out of her sight.

Bubblegum knew that she could very well be getting her hopes up. After all, falling debris was common throughout Ooo. These were called knife storms by the local people, showers of metal fragments shaped like knives. These were undoubtedly pieces of space debris that she had seen in orbit through her telescope. That did beg the question, if humans had achieved interplanetary travel...what happened to them?

She had brought Jake with her as a guard in case Ice King decided to take the opportunity to try and kidnap her...again. It had been nearly a year now since Bubblegum had first hired Jake to guard and at time rescue her and the other princesses from the Ice King. The magical dog did a good job despite how lazy he could be a times. Still, odd that half of his payment was always some kind exotic food or request relating to food.

"Hey PeeBee, why we gotta check out some dumb rock that fell outta the sky?" The dog moaned, lying down on his seat.

"Because, Jake this could be the biggest scientific discovery I've made thus far!" The princess exclaimed.

"Hhmmm..." The dog groaned, prompting Bubblegum to sigh at his reaction.

"Or it could be a giant monster that wants to take over the world..." She groaned, knowing it was unlikely but saying it simply to keep Jake at least mildly interested.

"We're here Princess!" Peppermint called, pulling the horse drawn carriage to a stop.

The gum girl had all but thrown caution out the window. Jumping out of the coach and preactically sprinting to the edge of the small crater created by the impact. Resting in the crater wasn't some random piece of debris or rock, it was a pod of some sort. It was blackened and dirty but it other than that it was pristine, unpainted dark grey metal and a narrow T-shaped glass canopy.

The whole thing was angular and ugly, clearly built for function over form. While not pretty, to her scientifically attuned eyes it's hard angles and odd shape was perfect for penetrating the atmosphere of a planet. The ruler of the Candy Kingdom was so lost in thought that she failed to notice movement from inside the pod.

Bubblegum was brought out of her musings when a high-pitched hiss and small jets of compressed air escape the pod as its hatch began to move. A pair of hydraulic arms hidden inside the two odd prongs that extended over its top pushed the hatch open. From Inside a black clad figure leapt out, clutching what she could only assume to be a weapon of some sort in his hands.

"That's a... no that can't be right." She gasped.

It was common knowledge that the inhabitants of Ooo were mutated in one form or another. Usually the more human the individual appeared the more intact human genetic material remained. Discoloured skin, odd body structure both internally and externally and missing or in some cases extra body parts were common.

This man was different however; he was human in almost all ways. Even with the somewhat bulky charcoal black armour and the skin-tight bodysuit was easily visible in between the plates. He bore no visible mutation and skin discolouration despite the fact that the only visible skin he had was that of his fingers. The oddest piece of armour on the man was his helmet, what could only be thick metal protected his cranium. His face was completely hidden behind the opaque blue visor attached to the headgear.

"I'm getting ahead of myself, there aren't any humans left. He… she… it… whatever on Ooo it is just an alien of some kind." She internally scolded herself.

"Who… or what are you?" The being asked, it spoke and most likely understood English.

The pink ruler panicked for a moment, the being raising a strange looking pipe that Bubblegum guessed that was some sort of weapon at her. Her mind raced, making contact with an alien that fell out of the sky and into her kingdom was not on the already long list of activities she had planned. Centuries of practice being the perfect and ageless ruler of the Candy People kicking in as she veiled her panic with a mask of royalty as she had for centuries.

"Hey! I don't know what you're beeswax is but you'd better-" Jake started, preparing to carry out his duty as the Candy Princess's guard.

His back hunched, the magical yellow dog prepared to grow to the size of a small house to smash the offending alien before a pink outstretched arm was held in from of his eyes. Looking to the princess, the Candy woman looking at him with a stern expression. Her lips pressed into a grim line, magenta eyes giving her guard a look that forbade him from his intention. With a sad whimper, the dog simmered down and

The ODST paused, mind running amok under his opaque blue visor at the sight of a talking bipedal yellow dog.

The gum girl partially bent her knees, placing one foot ahead of the other and using delicate pink fingers the pinch the sides of her long skirt and raise it slightly as to avoid the fabric from dragging along the dirt. In truth she had no idea if this being was familiar with a curtsey of human royalty, perhaps showing that she was unarmed would dissuade the being from shooting her in the face.

Rookie simply stared at the woman, despite the odd greeting and being unsure of what to make of the strange beings he lowered his weapon but kept his gaze fixed on the trio.

"Welcome to the Candy Kingdom, I am Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum and these are my companions Jake the dog and Peppermint butler." She said, displaying all the perfect elegance royalty was expected to display.

Rookie tilted his head in confusion, Candy Kingdom? Princesses made of Bubblegum and butlers of peppermint? Could he be dead and living in a hell made in the mind of a child or perhaps been hit in the head in the landing so hard that he was in a coma and this is all a dream? Regardless, they didn't seem armed or too eager to harm him.

"Lance Corporal Rookie, Squad Alpha-Nine within the 105th Shock Troops Division of the UNSC Marine Corps." Rookie said, giving the woman a curt salute in response to her curtsy but yet keeping his M7 ready to raise and fire just in case.

She had barely heard him, his voice was deep that much she could tell. However he kept his voice barely above a whisper, his helmet and bulky charcoal black armour serving to mask and facial features and body language save for body language that he deliberately displayed.

The gum girl's features scrunched into a puzzled scowl, from his introduction he seemed to indicate that he was part of some sort of a military force of some sort but revealed nothing else. The name 'Rookie' would be most likely wouldn't be his real name, perhaps a nickname or a codename? What was this 'UNSC' he spoke of?

"Where am I?" The armour-clad young man said, his question as blunt and subtle as a sledgehammer through a glass house.

The woman seemed genuinely confused by his question, how could he come here without knowing where 'here' was?

"The land of Ooo of course." The shrill voice of Peppermint butler said, the first words the Candy servant had uttered to the foreign alien,

Rookie stared at the small round Candy person, the red and white swirl of living mint candy's reflection mirrored on the polarized visor of the Trooper. The penetrating silent gaze unnerving all present before the helmet slowly tilted to the right to indicate confusion.

"This is going nowhere, how about you come with me to the Candy Kingdom?" Bonnibel asked, gesturing to her pink candy carriage.

"But Princess bringing this… thing to the castle is-" Peppermint butler's protests were silenced by a scorned look from his ruler.

"MMmm… I dunno… this seems like bad mojo, I'm keeping an eye on him." Jake said, one of his eyes expanding and toward the newcomer.

At that the soldier stiffened, something the princess picked up immediately. "You will not be harmed, you have my Royal Promise. Plus, it doesn't seem like you know where you are of how you got here… I could answer those questions if you answer mine." The princess reassured him.

Rookie pondered for a moment, he was at a severe disadvantage. On one hand the whole thing could be a trap, on the other hand he could just sit here and wait for a rescue that in all likelihood will never arrive.

"Do I reserve the right to choose what questions I answer?" Rookie asked, though having no choice given the circumstances he would have to go with her. Though he would not be divulging classified information if at all possible.

"Of course." The Princess said, giving him a light nod.

Retreating to the cabin of the carriage, lifting her skirt with a delicacy not seen in anyone but royalty, the woman flashed Rookie a smile and beckoning for him to follow. Turning around, the marine tapped at the console on the side of his HEV pod to bring the hatch down, he didn't need someone or something stealing his equipment to his growing list of headaches.

Swinging his M7 onto his back to allow the Magnetic hardpoint on the Rucksack of his armour to clamp the weapon in place, the black-armoured soldier took a doubtful step onto the carriage to see if it could take his weight. Despite the structure of the carriage growing of 88 Kilograms of soldier plus his heavy armour and weapons, it seemed to at least be able to hold.

"Not bad for something made out of sugar," he thought.

Taking his seat facing the woman, Rookie kept his hand on the M6C/ SOCOM holstered at his thigh just in case the pink woman tried anything on him. To her credit the woman simply stared at him with the same small smile that she kept on her face. It was unnerving to stare into a tinted reflection in his featureless glass visor to say the least.

Inside her however she was reeling, the scientist inside her was picking apart everything from his armour to his weapons. The princess inside her was wondering what contingency plans she should prepare should this guest of Ooo decide to run amok inside the Candy Kingdom. She set the thoughts aside, this stranger seemed just as if not more confused as she was.

* * *

The thumping gallops of Peppermint Butler at the reigns commanding the candy horses to advance was the only sound that he could really hear. Rookie was grateful for the opaque visor of the helmet, the gum woman failed to notice him stealing glances outside the window to view the cotton candy trees as they raced by the Candy-Kingdom outskirts.

It's official, he was going insane. He was seeing flora, fauna and people made of candy along with talking bipedal shape shifting dogs. He was unsure if he hit his head upon landing and was in a coma or unconscious or someone had tied him to a chair somewhere and was pumping him full of drugs.

The ODST was so lost in thought that he failed to notice the Princess leaning in and hovering her face just inches away from his visor. For his part he simply adjusted held still, staring her straight in her rosy-pink eyes.

The scientist unable to bear the sheer silence and awkward air of their staring contest and the bumping of the carriage as it traveled along the rough country road. Rookie tilted his head slowly to the side, the Princess mimicked his movement, intent on looking through the glass. Of course the object of her scientific and natural curiosity knew it was useless but it was… cute, to watch her try.

"If I may ask you to remove your-"The princess began.

"No." Rookie deadpanned.

* * *

The air of the Candy kingdom always hung thick with the scents of sweet sugary goodness. It seemed to make the person sitting in front of her sick to his stomach. His discomfort was obvious to the gum woman.

After eating the stale freeze-dried or preserved food that the UNSC served for so many years being around all these sweets just didn't sit well with his stomach. Ever thankful for the air filters he could toggle built into his all ODST helmets.

"Rookie, how do find my Kingdom?" The Princess asked, no small hint of pride upon her visage.

The soldier gave her a blank stare before his head tilted down, as if he had to ponder on what word to describe the physically impossible structures, materials and inhabitants of said structures into the shortest way possible.

He couldn't resist the pun any longer. She was asking for it at this point "It's… sweet."

The Candy woman seemed to take this as a compliment thankfully. As she seemed to almost beam when he said this. Perhaps she thought the term a compliment from an alien species a cause for celebration? How odd.

"Thank you, the glucose needed to make the candy-corn structures was remarkably unique, though we had some initial problems with their rate of decay but otherwise-" The Princess began rambling on of the many teething issues she had encountered along the way of building the Candy kingdom.

For his part Rookie simply nodded numbly and tried to follow her train wreck of a scientific explanation. As far as he was concerned, he wasn't an egghead and he knew exactly what the woman was trying to pull off with him. The Bubblegum woman wanted him to feel like she was opening up on a subject of interest to her, to appear defenseless, passionate maybe even innocent.

A technique get me to open up to hapless woman trying to make conversation. For me to reveal something through careless talk. "I may be called 'Rookie' but I'm for from stupid,"

It wasn't going to work, keeping his arms crossed and mindful of his surroundings he merely hummed in response to her rambling whilst he turned his attention to the view of the massive pink medieval castle at the centre of the city.

"High walls with well-placed battlements… an ancient design, not too bad for a structure made of hardened sugar and corn syrup. Nothing a well-placed charge or two won't fix" He through, eyeing the fortress for any weak point he might be able to detonate if needs be.

The only real problem lay in the massive bipedal gumball dispensers that the Princess called the Gumball guardians. While not going into great detail, she did give a passing mention to something about installing ranged energy projector weapons on them. Though not fast, for very strong they could do quite a bit of damage if they caught him unawares.

They soon passed the gates of said castle, guards of what his very pink host described as 'Idiotically lovable banana popsicles.' He was pretty sure he saw a ton of them slam into an oncoming vehicle into a pink of moaning yellow pile of seemingly bruised bodies.

"Why are those idiots in charge of security for anything?" Rookie wondered, his gaze following the scene as they passed it, the Princess didn't seem bothered in the slightest by this… that was unnerving to say the least.

The Princess returned his gaze with a knowing-almost sad look. "This happens all the time, only real way to ensure loyalty."

Unsure of how to respond, the Rookie kept his comments to himself. Merely going back to giving her a blank stare, expression and body language once again becoming unreadable.

"Princess and… guy or something? Get yer buts out so I can make some bacon pancakes, we've been on the road for hours and my subconscious is gettin' hungry." Jake called as the carriage came to a stop before the courtyard of what he assumed was the castle.

The pitter-patter of Peppermint butler's leather shoes made his movements easy to follow up to the point that he was approaching the door before opening the door to allow his revered ruler to leave the carriage. Rookie merely jumped out of the carriage, prompting a frown from the small butler. The ODST saw no need to take the extra step from the carriage when he could just jump out from the vehicle similar to his HEV pod.

"Come, we have a lot to talk about. Peppermint Butler, prepare some spearmint tea for our guest." The Princess said, the small Candy person offering a bow before leaving to carry out his orders.

Rookie kept his hand hovering over his side arm's holster, operating within the stronghold of a woman made purely of bubble-gum with some kind of ulterior motive was ever so slightly dangerous. Though he was curious as to why she had not instructed any of her guards or perhaps her butler to remove his weaponry was perhaps a sign of goodwill. The noble Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum didn't seem like a woman that would let the rather large elephant in the room slip by.

* * *

Rookie expected a darkened room with no windows and a single light hanging over a desk or something to that effect. No doubt something ONI would practice on a regular basis, no doubt Captain Dare would place him in such a room if he had been found going AWOL throughout a major operation.

The Princess's own quarters atop a tower overlooking the entirety of the Candy Kingdom was not his idea of an interrogation. The brightly lit room was in stark contrast to the darkened corridor that led up to the room.

The room itself was richly furnished; reminiscent of Victorian era rooms he had only seen pictures of… if Victorian era furniture was made entirely of some form of candy or another. A large bed with a pink canopy, red curtains held up by a wooden- or chocolate bars. Chocolate framed every window in the circular room. Banners of pink and beige were hung on the walls where windows didn't stream in rays of sunlight, a single large arched door led to her balcony with a tripod mounted spyglass that she no doubt used to monitor her kingdom.

The princess raised a delicate pink hand to lift her teacup to her lips, Rookie's helmeted head snapped to her the moment she moved. If she was startled by this the pink ruler never showed it. The small porcelain cups placed on saucers. He couldn't tell if the steaming brown liquid was chocolate or tea but was more intrigued by the fact that these candy people had identical cultural and architectural features with humans. This either confirmed that he had gone completely insane and these were hallucinations or he was in a coma.

The soft clatter of china brought The ODST out of his musings, not that she could tell beyond the expressionless opaque blue visor she faced. "So, I assume Rookie isn't your real name." She said, earning single nod in response.

She waited for a response, when it became apparent that she was to receive none the gum woman sighed. "May I ask what your real name is?"

"James, James D***" The woman nodded, despite the fact that this was the only third or fourth time he spoke, his voice wasdeep, calming and gentle… almost like a parent whispering a lullaby to a child.

"Let us exchange information, you ask me one question and I ask you another. We reserve the right to answer or not of course." She said, a small smile gracing her features.

It seemed fair enough, Rookie nodded once more and the Princess's scientific joy was poorly masked. Even though she did clear her throat to try and mask the smile behind her hand.

"Where am I?" The Rookie asked.

"The Land of Ooo, I already told you this." Bubblegum said, an eyebrow raised at him asking a question he already knew the answer to.

"No, I mean what planet." He reiterated.

Bubblegum cursed her shallow thinking, this man had come from space… of course he would want to know what planet he was on.

"Earth, you're on planet Earth." The princess said.

Even through the bulky armour and expressionless helmet Bonnibel could see the Rookie's shock when she mentioned earth. His posture stiffened and his helmet raised slightly. "Does that planet mean something to you?"

"This can't be Earth, I know Earth and we don't have living Candy." The newcomer said, his tone somehow becoming terse and harsh without gaining any volume.

The mention of 'we' when he mentioned Earth was not lost of the Candy ruler, a question she would pry into in due time. "I assure you this is Earth, I'm in no way lying to you."

With a wave of her hand the green glow of a hologram emitter that burst to life from within the table, the shock causing the ODST to jump to his feet and draw his weapons from his thigh holster.

The pink woman raised a hand and displayed an image of Earth.

Rookie nearly dropped his weapon when his arms dropped to his sides. It was Earth, the continents he had studied in the briefings were all there. The island of Britannia, the continents of America, Africa but the planet looked have been missing a massive portion out of the top corner. Looking like someone had taken a bite out of it.

Pushing down his shock and biting back an outburst to state that the hologram was impossible, Rookie looked to the Princess. "What happened to the top?" He asked, pointing towards the massive missing chunk.

Bubblegum nodded and sighed. "The Calamity happened, the thing that started the great mushroom war."

"Mushroom war?" The young man tilted his helmet.

"There were mushroom everywhere. The ancients called it the Great Mushroom War." The candy woman looked down, perhaps in sorrow, Rookie couldn't really tell with her.

The ODST sighed and nodded, holstering his weapon and finally taking a seat. The Princess followed suit, uncaring that the stranger had taken a seat before royalty, no doubt if Peppermint Butler were present, he'd throw a fit over such audacity. Bubblegum didn't have the heart to admonish him over it. He looked deflated at the news for some reason.

He was leaned down, body slumped down on the seat with both arms resting on the armrests like fallen branches. "I'm sorry, you seem bothered by this-"

"Earth… is the cradle of humanity, where are the humans?" He suddenly asked.

Princess Bubblegum raised a delicate eyebrow at that, how would an alien know what a human was? "They went extinct during that war, why?"

There was a period of silence. The ticking of the chocolate cake grandfather clock in the corner seemed so much louder all of a sudden. The soldier seemed to stare at her. Though she couldn't see his eyes, his gaze seemed so intense and the gravity of his stare so heavy that it made her wither a little beneath it.

Slowly however, the soldier reached up to his helmet. Fingers wrapped around titanium armour and polymer coating as he twisted the airtight seal with a hiss and lifted the headgear off, placing it on the table with a heavy thud. Rookie sat upright, staring intently at the Gum woman. She gasped in shock, magenta eyes wide and hands daintily covering her gaping mouth.

"Because… I'm human."

Bubblegum slowly walked forwards, each step shaky and stiff as her legs struggled to obey her mind's commands. Both hands reached out, fingers wrapping around his face and jawline. He was handsome, in a rugged sort of way. A well squared jawline, short, crew cut black hair and youthful, masculine features and dark blue eyes. His expression was a mix between a scowl and that of indifferent boredom, sunken eyes betrayed a lifestyle that offered little rest.

Most prominently however, was a scar that ran diagonally across his face stretching from his right jaw over the bridge of his nose and up to his left temple . It was jagged and gashed like it was made with a serrated blade of some sort and had been heated first. Like a branding that darkened the flesh in and around the wound.

"You're… human," Bubblegum whispered, his skin was slightly rough to the touch. A finger traced the scar gently from end to end, she was seemingly enthralled by the imperfection.

"Uh, please let me go?" The human said.

Bonnibel's shoulders jerked and her hands darted back. A shade of red darkened her pink features as she hurriedly returned to her seat. "I-I'm sorry I've just never seen a human before. All I've seen are ruins, skeletons and pictures of your kind."

"Don't get used to it," Rookie leaned back slipping his helmet back on.

The pink woman sighed in disappointment, the first glimpse of a pure human in Ooo in perhaps centuries and he refuses to show his face. But she was forced to respect that… unless.

She wouldn't push too hard, yet. An innocent question will do for now. "If I may ask Lance Corporal, what are you going to do now?"

Rookie didn't answer for a moment. He hadn't gotten that far, so he simply shrugged.

The Princess smiled politely. " _Perfect_."

Her mind raced, a human, one that seemed to be before the Great Mushroom War! She had so much she wanted to ask, so many tests she wanted to run!

The Princess cleared the throat. "If you have no solution to your predicament, I propose an arrangement."

Rookie eyed her curiously but nodded for her to continue.

She smiled gently. "Appearances aside, my Kingdom is amongst the most technologically advanced in Ooo. Plus I have a vested interest in human technology and history. I'll help you try and sort your… displacement problem out."

"... In exchange?" Rookie asked.

Bonnibel knew that this human wasn't daft, a service demands payment after all, she would be fair. "You indulge me. Everyday I'll ask you a topic regarding human history. I assume you're familiar with violence?" Rookie nodded.

She clapped her hands together. "Excellent! Then you'll act as my champion as well,to protect me and my kingdom from harm as well as some perilous quests into the wasteland. We may uncover a human artifact that can send you back to where you came from!"

Rookie seemed to ponder for a moment. Then nodded. The Princess beamed at that and extended a hand over the table. "You'll need a name fitting for your role."

"Rook."

The gum woman was silent at the sudden response from the silent soldier. "Like the human chess piece? The tower?" He nodded once again.

She hummed in thought, lips pursed before shifting her pensive expression into a smile. "Fitting, Rook, the Fortress of the Candy Kingdom."

Rookie reached out, gingerly taking her hand in his. Exposed finger exploring her smooth, soft hand.

"Deal."


End file.
